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Where Are the Restrooms at wd~50? No, Seriously  Where?

<div class="image"><img src="http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/food/07/09/07_wd50bathroom_sm.jpg"></div>
It&#8217;s no secret that <a href="http://nymag.com/search/sitewide-search.cgi?textquery=wd-50&search_type=all&x=0&y=0">wd&#126;50</a>&#8217;s bathrooms are as byzantine as its food. Even <i>The New Yorker</i>&#8217;s reviewer Kevin Conley wasn&#8217;t <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/07/07/030707gota_GOAT_tables">smart enough</a> to figure them out: &#8220;It can take minutes to realize that you have to push the wall &#151; a Mensa-test experience so disconcerting that one diner wound up down the hall in a storeroom.&#8221; Having seen our share of hidden doors (<a href="http://nymag.com/daily/food/2007/06/reflecting_on_the_hottie_potti_1.html">Pukk</a> and <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/food/2007/01/secret_stalls_and_wacky_waterf.html">44</a>, for starters), we knew we&#8217;d be okay when we went downstairs to confront the beast.

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It’s no secret that wd~50’s bathrooms are as byzantine as its food. Even The New Yorker’s reviewer Kevin Conley wasn’t smart enough to figure them out: “It can take minutes to realize that you have to push the wall  a Mensa-test experience so disconcerting that one diner wound up down the hall in a storeroom.” Having seen our share of hidden doors (Pukk and 44, for starters), we knew we’d be okay when we went downstairs to confront the beast.

Concept: An aquatic mosaic over communal sinks makes the push doors in the bamboo wall seem like beach bathhouse entrances.Privacy: When someone tries to push your door open, confuse him even further by calling out, “Don’t enter! Wylie’s lab!” Amenities: Two door hooks  so you can hang up your jacket and your pants.Drawbacks: The retro drop ceiling panels make you paranoid that Marcel Vigneron, while stealing a recipe, is going to fall out of the ceiling at any moment. Strategy: Chat up the cutie at the sink next to you by asking if she’s heard about this place called Tailor.Rating: